The Swedish people were not too taken with that idea, and so they complained. A lot. As a result, Telia Sonera has now made their existing cell plans available to those who plan to purchase an iPhone 3G, meaning that you can choose from a variety of offerings that start as low as 99 kr/month (~$17), to which you can add that same 199 kr/month unlimited data plan.

da5id: Remember VF are chaging their data plans from 28 July to $1 a day for 10MB of data. Phone 489 for more details

Question

Will I be able to use the new $1 per day casual data rate on my iPhone?

Answer

No.You’ll need to get either an iPhone plan, or a compatible On Account plan (You Choose, talkZone, or Corporate) with a compatible broadband plan for mobile.

How will they know you have an iPhone on that $1 a day service? As a 2G iPhone owner, if I just turn back on GPRS/EDGE and go online after July 28. Won't it just click on to this deal? If so, it works out as a good deal - 300mb a month max for $30. Pay only when you use it.

sbiddle: It's nice, has a great UI and cool features. It doesn't change the fact it's just a phone.

You just don't get it - it's more than a phone, the idea is to revolutionise how people USE phones. Puts the mobile internet in your pocket with proper GPS and great maps, *easily* installable apps, and greate UI. All that stuff has been half-heartedly available before but was slow and difficult to use. The iPhone can change all that, as any gadget guy should know. But Vodafone's plans are putting that out of most people's reach.

sbiddle is right....it's just a phone with built in ipod....the GPS is using Wifi + AGPS to get you to your location or you can use the data + AGPS...that's not real GPS like the Nokia N95 which only uses the internal built in GPS and does not costs you any extra $$$ to be on a data plan....here is a comparison of the N95 vs the iphone....the only difference is that the new one is 3G....but it still lacks the other features mentioned....

da5id: Remember VF are chaging their data plans from 28 July to $1 a day for 10MB of data. Phone 489 for more details

Question

Will I be able to use the new $1 per day casual data rate on my iPhone?

Answer

No.You’ll need to get either an iPhone plan, or a compatible On Account plan (You Choose, talkZone, or Corporate) with a compatible broadband plan for mobile.

How will they know you have an iPhone on that $1 a day service? As a 2G iPhone owner, if I just turn back on GPRS/EDGE and go online after July 28. Won't it just click on to this deal? If so, it works out as a good deal - 300mb a month max for $30. Pay only when you use it.

I'll bite, the iPhone uses a different APN as far as I've been told, so it'll be talking to the wrong place if you're not using it with a compatible data plan.

sbiddle: It's nice, has a great UI and cool features. It doesn't change the fact it's just a phone.

You just don't get it - it's more than a phone, the idea is to revolutionise how people USE phones. Puts the mobile internet in your pocket with proper GPS and great maps, *easily* installable apps, and greate UI. All that stuff has been half-heartedly available before but was slow and difficult to use. The iPhone can change all that, as any gadget guy should know. But Vodafone's plans are putting that out of most people's reach.

sbiddle is right....it's just a phone with built in ipod....the GPS is using Wifi + AGPS to get you to your location or you can use the data + AGPS...that's not real GPS like the Nokia N95 which only uses the internal built in GPS and does not costs you any extra $$$ to be on a data plan....here is a comparison of the N95 vs the iphone....the only difference is that the new one is 3G....but it still lacks the other features mentioned....

The Swedish people were not too taken with that idea, and so they complained. A lot. As a result, Telia Sonera has now made their existing cell plans available to those who plan to purchase an iPhone 3G, meaning that you can choose from a variety of offerings that start as low as 99 kr/month (~$17), to which you can add that same 199 kr/month unlimited data plan.

sbiddle is right....it's just a phone with built in ipod....the GPS is using Wifi + AGPS to get you to your location or you can use the data + AGPS...that's not real GPS like the Nokia N95 which only uses the internal built in GPS and does not costs you any extra $$$ to be on a data plan....here is a comparison of the N95 vs the iphone....the only difference is that the new one is 3G....but it still lacks the other features mentioned....

spazz, do you have a petition that's written by someone who's not a 12 year old child? Do you really expect vodafone to take something that says "WTF!!! How on earth do these people think of these prices... Why should we put up with these thieving corporate monkeys." seriously?

sbiddle, the issue I have with vodafone is not that they're selling a high-cost product, but that they are inflating the price of a product that can be bought in other markets for much less. Yeah, I used to getting ripped off in NZ (in the 4 years I've been here, I've saved over $3000 on various goods by buying them online), but this is absurd.

The cheapest TCO for an iphone in nz is $2469 (8gb) and $2619 (16gb). Converting to AUD ($1948 and $2066)and looking at this chart, that puts us more than double the TCO in aussie and roughly 30% more expensive than the average lowest TCO.

Vodafone can charge what they want and honestly, I never expected a $40 plan. But I'd happily have paid ~$6-70 a month with a $4-500 phone cost, and I think that would be a sweet spot for a lot of reasonably well-paid people.

Vodafone can charge what they want and honestly, I never expected a $40 plan. But I'd happily have paid ~$6-70 a month with a $4-500 phone cost, and I think that would be a sweet spot for a lot of reasonably well-paid people.

Looking at Vodafone's existing plans, it looks like they've taken their YouChoose 120 plan, and added on a data package close to the "Casual Data" plan.

You Choose 120 - NZ$59.95Casual Data - NZ$30. (approx)

Since the phone will be had at US$599 (NZ$906.75 inc GST) without a plan (AT&T), we can use this as an indication of the full retail price of the phone. However, I would expect that price to drop, since parallel importers will go for the cheapest international source (probably HK).

Therefore, the discount on the phone is NZ$357.75, with no discount on the plan.

It's interesting. Compared to other carriers, the plans are expensive. Compared to VFNZ, the plans are right on the money, no cheaper and no more expensive. The discount on the phone itself is pretty substantial (for VF).

I find this whole thing interesting. The iPhone is becoming the McDonald's hamburger of the Telecoms world. It's the first time that we, as consumers, can easily see and compare pricing between carriers and countries. It really makes it obvious where the cheaper carriers are.

Personally, NZ$80/month is a lot more than I currently spend. I spend at most NZ$20/month on my iPhone 1.0 - I've got WiFi both at home and work. However, I did notice the "iPhone Effect" when I first bought it - it tripled my call/messaging spend.

I think they have the balance of the rates really wrong. I would have thought that while still as expensive, the 3 plans should have been something along the lines of 60mins/500MB - 120mins/1GB and 250mins/2GB for the same sort of prices. (No I'm not happy about Vodafone's pricing - but this is a problem in general for pricing of plans in NZ). For me, I might have stretched things to $130 per month if it was 120mins/1GB - but the 250mins/500MB is too much time and not enough data.